13 février 2019 | International, Autre défense
The testing, evaluation and training of future military systems will increasingly take place in virtual environments due to rising costs and system complexity as well as the limited availability of military ranges. Virtual simulators are already used to augment real-world training for modern fighter aircraft pilots, and they hold significant promise for addressing the rigorous demands of testing and training AI-enabled technologies. Current simulated environments, however, rely on conventional computing that is incapable of generating the computational throughput and speed to accurately replicate real-world interactions, model the scale of physical test ranges or meet the technical requirements of more complex systems.
“Virtual environments could significantly aid the military by creating the ability to test and train advanced radio frequency (RF) technologies 24/7/365 with high-fidelity models of complex sensor systems, like radar and communications,” said Paul Tilghman, program manager in DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). “However, existing computing technologies are unable to accurately model the scale, waveform interactions or bandwidth demands required to replicate real-world RF environments.”
To address current computing limitations impeding the development of virtual test environments, DARPA created the Digital RF Battlespace Emulator (DBRE) program. DRBE seeks to create a new breed of High Performance Computing (HPC) – dubbed “Real Time HPC” or RT-HPC – that will effectively balance computational throughput with extreme low latency capable of generating the high-fidelity emulation of RF environments. DRBE will demonstrate the use of RT-HPC by creating the world's first largescale virtual RF test range. The range will aim to deliver the scale, fidelity and complexity needed to match how complex sensor systems are employed today, providing a valuable development and testing environment for the Department of Defense (DoD).
“While DRBE's primary research goal is to develop real time HPC that can be used to replicate the interactions of numerous RF systems in a closed environment, this is not the only application for this new class of computing. RT-HPC could have implications for a number of military and commercial capabilities beyond virtual environments – from time-sensitive, big-data exploitation to scientific research and discovery,” said Tilghman.
To support the creation of RT-HPC and the DRBE RF test range, the program will focus on two primary research areas. One area will explore designing and developing novel computing architectures and domain-specific hardware accelerators that can meet the real-time computational requirements of RT-HPC. Existing HPCs rely on general-purpose computing devices, which either prioritize high computational throughput while sacrificing latency (i.e., Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)), or have very low latency with correspondingly low computational throughput (i.e., Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)). DRBE seeks to overcome the limitations of both by creating a new breed of HPC hardware that combines the GPU's and FPGA's best traits.
The second research area will focus on the development of tools, specifications and interfaces, and other system requirements to support the integration of the RT-HPC system and the creation of the virtual RF test range. These components will help design and control the various test scenarios that could be run within the range, enable the DRBE's RT-HPC to interface with external systems for testing, facilitate the resource allocation needed to support multiple experiments, and beyond.
DRBE is part of the second phase of DARPA's Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) – a five-year, upwards of $1.5 billion investment in the future of domestic, U.S. government and defense electronics systems. As a part of ERI Phase II, DARPA is creating new connections between ERI programs and demonstrating the resulting technologies in defense applications. DRBE is helping to fulfill this mission by bringing the benefits of domain specific processing architectures to defense systems.
DARPA will hold a Proposers Day on February 13, 2019 from 9:00am to 5:00pm (EST) at 4075 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 300 Arlington, Virginia 22203, to provide more information about DRBE and answer questions from potential proposers. For details on the event, including registration requirements, please visit: http://www.cvent.com/events/darpa-mto-drbe-proposers-day/event-summary-69f231cef8814aa799cd60588b5dc9cf.aspx
A forthcoming Broad Agency Announcement will fully describe the program structure and objectives.
10 février 2024 | International, Terrestre
Officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows have scheduled performances at four Canadian air shows starting in August.
2 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial
A medium altitude long endurance RPAS drone is being used by the Icelandic maritime authorities to enhance the maritime picture over its Exclusive Economic Zone, the service follows a request made by the Icelandic coast guard to EMSA and is expected to run until mid-July. The RPAS chosen will be integrated into the existing surveillance mechanisms and procedures covering coast guard functions in the areas of maritime safety and security, search and rescue, environmental protection, law enforcement and fisheries control. The particular RPAS in use is adapted to withstand the strong winds and icy conditions common to the North Atlantic Ocean. It has an endurance of over 12 hours and may perform maritime surveillance tasks in areas extending as far as 200nm from the shoreline. The operations are based at the Egilsstaðir airport in the east of the island. From there, they have the capability to cover more than half of the Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone. EMSA's RPAS services for Iceland involve the cooperation of several Icelandic authorities, who will be able to follow the missions remotely thanks to EMSA's RPAS data centre. Users will include the Icelandic coast guard, the fisheries directorate, the environment agency, the customs directorate, the police force, and the search and rescue association. The Hermes 900 RPAS is under contract by EMSA from CEiiA – the Centre of Engineering and Innovation. It is a MALE-class fixed wing, single engine RPAS and is capable of night and day operations. Using SATCOM technology, it can operate beyond radio line of sight. The payload consists of electro-optical and infra-red video cameras, maritime radar, AIS receiver, and an EPIRB receiver. “EMSA's RPAS services give us and our users, in this case Iceland, another lens through which we can gain even greater situational awareness. Our services have been used by three different member states since the beginning of the year and more are in the pipeline for the upcoming months,” explained Executive Director, Maja Markovčić Kostelac. EMSA's RPAS services were set up in 2017 for maritime surveillance and monitoring operations to support national authorities involved in coast guard functions. This includes: maritime pollution and emissions monitoring; detection of illegal fishing, anti-drug trafficking, and illegal immigration; border surveillance; and, search and rescue operations. For further information and media enquiries, please contact: Tel. +351 21 1209 281 e-mail information@emsa.europa.eu http://www.emsa.europa.eu/emsa-homepage/2-news-a-press-centre/news/3525-press-release-rpas-maritime-surveillance-services-now-underway-in-iceland.html
12 mars 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Sécurité
Working with mentors from Sikorsky, three University of Connecticut engineering seniors are translating their classroom education to the field. Electrical engineering majors Kerry Jones and Joshua Steil, and computer engineering major Ryan Heilemann, are collaborating to build and program an autonomous firefighting drone to battle blazes without a pilot's guidance. “In the world today there's a high prevalence of forest fires, like in California, but the problem is of how to safely put out these fires,” says Steil. “So our project, in essence, is to see if we can start putting out fires without a human driver.” Once finished, the drone will carry a thermal imaging camera to identify a fire, object avoidance technology to steer clear of any obstacles, and a softball-sized fire-extinguishing ball that will be dropped over the flames. The system's technology will be tied together through coding language developed by the students, and will operate based on inputted coordinates. While their drone will only be able to put out a campfire-size blaze, the project is meant to prove that this technology is possible, so that much bigger technology can be engineered in the future, says Heilemann. “The idea is that in the future, on a larger scale, there can be a fleet of unmanned helicopters that can go out and put out forest fires, thereby lowering loss of life,” says Steil. While drones are currently used by fire departments across the country, all of them so far have a pilot who navigates the drone from a distance, and most are used for observation, not fire suppression. “The autonomy definitely makes it different,” says Jones, “and the fire-extinguishing ball, for sure.” Teams in previous years have worked on similar projects with Sikorsky, which provided some guidance on what has worked and what has not. The team looked back on previous projects' reports, including last year's team, which was the first to integrate firefighting capabilities into the drone. While the previous team to work on this project used small thermal sensors called thermopile array sensors, Heilemann says these sensors required the previous drone to be only about six feet from the flames, which was too close for real-world applications. His team decided to use an infrared camera, which allows for more distance from the flames. This year's team had the added benefit of working on their project in UConn's brand new 118,000 square-foot Engineering and Science Building, which features three engineering floors filled with faculty and labs focused on robotics, machine autonomy, and virtual and augmented reality. At Sikorsky, the team is working with a recent UConn School of Engineering alum, Jason Thibodeau, deputy manager of Sikorsky's Flight Controls and Autonomous Systems Department. “He's really helpful. We have phone meetings every Monday, and we tell him what's going on, what we're struggling with, and he reasons with us,” says Jones. Adds Heilemann, “He really wants us to figure our way through issues we have, instead of just giving us a direct solution.” Working with Sikorsky also introduced the UConn seniors to new career options. Jones has accepted an offer with Sikorsky after she graduates, in their autonomy lab as part of their Rotary and Mission Systems department. Steil has accepted a job offer with Sikorsky's parent company, Lockheed Martin, in Massachusetts after graduation. “Working with Sikorsky definitely sparked a greater interest looking into the company as a whole,” he says. Heilemann also decided to go into the aerospace industry, and has found a job doing control and diagnostics at another aerospace company. Most importantly, the collaboration was a chance to get some experience with a top company. “In this project, I get to learn so much about Sikorsky and what they do,” says Steil, “and having a company like that so close to home and have them be our sponsor is definitely an added benefit.” https://dronescrunch.com/autonomous-firefighting-drone/